Church of the Nazarene – East Rock
Building Blocks – Part 2
Sabbath
Today we continue a new teaching series called “Building Blocks”.
Building Blocks is a series focusing on the essential features, the basics, of the Christian life. It’s not intended only for new believers, but also for those who have been walking with Jesus for many years.
Our series began last week focusing on prayer
Today we focus on Sabbath – a command from God that is an incredible gift, and one that is too often disregarded.
Exodus 20:8-11
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Genesis 2:2-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
Pete Scazzero
“Make no mistake about it: keeping the command to Sabbath is both countercultural and extremely difficult in our everyday lives.”
Jeff Bethke
“In our Western culture that constantly bends the knee to gods of productivity, work-based identity, and speed, Sabbath comes as a fist in the air every week (in resistance), saying no…”
So why Sabbath?
STOP
REST
DELIGHT
WORSHIP
Matthew 11:28
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Soren Kierkegaard
“Busyness, keeping up with others, hustling hither and yon, makes it almost impossible for an individual to form a heart.”
Mark Buchanan
“Most of the things we need to be most fully alive never come in busyness. They grow in rest.”
Mark 2:23-28
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Tips for all Practices/Disciplines/Building Blocks
-Start small
-Think subtraction, not addition
-You get what you put in
-Remember the J-curve
-There is NO formation without repetition
Isaiah 58:13-14
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
John Mark Comer
“The end goal of Sabbath is not to say, “I practice Sabbath.” It’s to apprentice under Jesus to become a person who is marked by an inner spirit of restfulness and who is calm, at ease in their own body, unhurried, kind, and present. You will become aware of what God is doing around you, sincerely grateful, emotionally healthy, and delighted by the goodness of your life with God. A person who is like a rock in a sea of chaos, unmoved by the overwork, overconsumption, and overactivity of our host culture.”
Verses for further study/reflection:
Genesis 2:3
Exodus 20:1-17
Exodus 31:12-17
Isaiah 58: 13-14
Luke 4:16
Luke 23:56
Hebrews 4:9
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